The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-08-22

verting power of religion should rise, SO far
from being ashamed, they would spring to
their feet with more alacrity than they ever
sprang to the dance, the tears mingling
with their exhilaration as they cried; I'VE
are witnessesm And If they tried to sing
the old Gospel hymn, they would break
down with emotion by the time they got to
the second line:
Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend
On whom my hopes of heaven depend!
No! When blush be this my shame:
That no more revere His name"
Again, remark that 1--WE are witnesses"
of the Gospels power to comfort.
When a man has trouble the world comes
in and says: "Now get your mind Off this /;
go out and breathe the fresh air; plunge
deeper into business" What poor advice.
Get your mind off of it! when everything is
upturned with the bereavement, and every
thing reminds you of what you have lost.
Get your mind off OF it! They might as
well advise you to stop thinking. You can
not stop thinking, and you cannot stop
thinking in that direction. Take walk in
the fresh air Why, along that very street,
or that very road, she once accompanied
you, Out of that grass-plot she plucked
flowers, or into that showwlndow she look
ed, fascinated, saying: Come, see the pic
ture." Go deeper into business! Why, she
was asoOCAibtu WIN dli NOul
ton, and since she has gone you have no
ambition left.
Oh, this is clumsy world when 1t tries
to comfort a broken hearth l can build a
Corliss engine, l can paint a Raphael's
Madonna" can play Beethoven's "Sym-
phony" as easily as this world can comfort
broken heart. And yet you have been
comforted How was it donel Did Christ
come to you and say: Get your mind off
-.
plunge deeper into businessp No There
was minute when He came to you-per-
haps in the watches Of the night, perhaps
in your place of business, perhaps along the
street-and He breathed something into
your soul that gave you peace, rest, infinite
quiet, so chat you could take out the photo
graph of the departed one and look into the
eyes and the face of the dear one and say:
1T is all right; she is better off. | would
not call her back Lord, thank Thee that
Thou hast comforted my poor heart"
There are Christian parents here who are
willing to testify to the power of this Gospel
TO comfort. Your son had just graduated
from school or college and was going into
business, and the Lord took him. Or your
daughter had just graduated from the young
ladies' seminary, and you thought she was
going to be a useful woman and of long life /;
but the Lord took her, and you were tempted
to say: "All this culture of twenty years
for nothingm Or the little child came home
from school with the hot fever that stopped
not for the agonized prayer or for the skill
full physician, and the little child was taken
Or the babe was lifted out of your arms by
some quick epidemic, and you stood won
dering why God ever gave you that child
at all, if so soon He was to take it away
And yet you are net repining, you are not
fretful, you are not fighting against God.
What has enabled you to stand all the
triall "Oh," you say, II took the medicine
that God gave my sick soul. In my distress
| threw myself at the feet of sympathizing
God; and when l was too weak to pray, or
to look up, He breathed into me q peace that
| think must be the foretaste of that Heaven
where there is neither tear, nor farewell,
nor grave.n Come, all ye who have been
out TO the grave to weep there-come, all
We comforted souls, get up off your knees.
Is there no power in this Gospel to soothe
the hearth Is there no power in this religion
to quiet the worst paroxysm of grief There
comes up an answer from comforted widow
hood, and orphanage, and childlessness, say
ing: AYE, aye, we are witnessesw
again, / remark that we are witnesses of
the fact that religion has power to give
composure in the last moment. / shall
never forget the first time / confronted
death. We went across the cornfelds in
the country ] was led by my fathers
hand, and we came 70 the farm house where
the bereavement had come, and we saw the
crowd of wagons and carriages; but there
was one carriage that especially attracted
my boyish attention, and it had black
plumos. | said: whats that what's
that! Why those black tassels at the topN'
And after it was explained to me, was
lifted up to look upon the bright face of an
aged Christian woman, who three days be-
fore had departed in triumph. The whole
scene made an impres ion never forgot.
In our sermons and in our lay exhorta-
tions we are very apt, when we want to
bring illustrations of dying triumph, TO go
back to some distinguished personage-to a
John Knox or a Harriet Newell. But
want you for witnesses.
want to know IL you have ever seen any
thing TO make you believe that the religion
of Christ can give composure in the final
hour. Now, in the courts, attorney, jury
and Judge will never admit mere hearsay.
They demand that the witness must have
seen with his own eyes, or heard with his
own ears, and so | am critical in my exami-
nation of you now; and / want TO know
whether you have seen or heard anything
that makes you believe that the religion
of Christ gives composure in the final
hour.
"Oh, yes,n you say, II saw my father and
mother depart. lnere was great diner
ence In their death-beds Standing by the
one we felt more veneration. By the other,
there was more tenderness Before the
one, you bowed perhaps in awe. In the
other case, you felt as ii you would like to
go along with her. How did they feel in
that last houri How did they seem to acts
Were they very much frightenedi Did they
take hold Of this world with both hands as
though they did not want TO give it upi
"Oh, no." you say; mo, / remember as
though it were yesterday; she had "A kind
word for us all. and there were few
mementoes distributed among the children,
and then she told Us how kind we must be TO
our father in his loneliness, and then she
kissed US good-by and went asleep as child
In cradle"
What made her so composedi Natural
couragel NO. you say, "mother was very
nervous; when the carriage inclined to the
side OF the road, she would cry out; she
was always rather weakly" What, then,
gave her composurei Was 1t because she
did not care much for you. and the pang of
parting was not great, "Oh,n you say,
"she showercd upon Z, =. wealth Of affec-
ton; no mother ever 'Sved her children
more than mother loved US: she showed it
by the way she nurse1 US wnel we we're
sick, and she toiled for us until her strength
gave OUT What, then, was IL that gave
her composIre in the lasts hourl Do not
hide H. Be frank, and let me know. 'Oh,n
you say, sit was because she wius so good !;
She made the Lord her portion, and she had
faith that she would go straight to glory